Brazil: Finding God in the faces of Indigenous children

Sr Joana with several Indigenous children on 7 June  (archivio di suor Joana Ortiz)

By Sr Joana Aparecida Ortiz

Jul 22 2023

Sr Joana Aparecida Ortiz, a Franciscan Sister of Our Lady of Aparecida who has lived among the second largest population of Indigenous people in Brazil since 2010, shares how she answered God’s call to carry out her mission alongside suffering people in Mato Grosso do Sul.

The suffering of the people is also our suffering. In 2010, as a Franciscan Sister of Our Lady of Aparecida, a daughter of Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil’s Central West region, where the country’s second largest Indigenous population lives — “where an ox is worth more than an Indigenous child, and soy is worth more than a cedar tree” — I felt called to stand beside these people, who are my people.

The inspiration that comes from a dream

I was feeling terrible distress without understanding what was happening to me, when I dreamed that Indigenous people came to our house, asking for help.

The next day, the dream continued. In it, my mother (who definitely had Indigenous blood) appeared and handed me an envelope, asking me to deliver it to the Indigenous camp.

The following day, the dream continued: I delivered the envelope to an elderly man in a village on the edge of a road. The Indigenous elder said, “We don’t want money, but presence”.

I woke up overwhelmed by that dream, wondering if I was losing my mind. How was I to accomplish such a mission, if we, as a Congregation, did not have a house in the village?

It was then that, with the help of the Conference of Religious of Brazil (CRB), I came to know the Missionary Council for Indigenous Peoples (CIMI), an organization of Brazil’s Catholic Church. I thus began my visits to the villages in the agricultural state, Mato Grosso do Sul.

Difficult conditions of Indigenous people in Mato Grosso do Sul

My God, I have seen so much suffering! From village to village, from camp to camp, on the edges of roads, on Indigenous reservations and fazendas. I have seen many people’s huts set on fire, and malnourished children.

And at that time, I also saw CIMI missionaries care for a girl who was suffering from severe malnutrition, who despite the assistance, died the following day.

I found the congregational charism that spurred me towards that reality: “We praise the name Aparecida, we go out from the squares where many people transit, we go to the basements where no one is in a rush”, as our Foundress Mother Clara Maria de Azevedo e Souza used to say.

An 11-year journey with God and Indigenous people

I finished CIMI’s basic course in 2012, and as a missionary of that organization, I was able to see God’s face in the face of Indigenous people. As a member of the Congregation, I was able to join the missionary work and be a presence.

In 2015, the organization was subjected to a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on its defence of the rights of communities.

I was involved in that process, and I was able to experience in part what Christ lived through when He faced false accusations before the Sanhedrin because He wanted freedom for His people. We were persecuted, denigrated and slandered, but not defeated because we believe that the Lord walks with us. We won that battle.